


The Gunslinger and the Red Hornet

by CaliburnAbsolute



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen, Microfic, They/Them Pronouns for The Knight (Hollow Knight), Western AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26028721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaliburnAbsolute/pseuds/CaliburnAbsolute
Summary: A lone gunslinger faces down a red-clad rival during their travels through Hallow Valley.A piece of microfiction I wrote for my college writing club, reinterpreting a scene from Hollow Knight based on a prompt.
Kudos: 8





	The Gunslinger and the Red Hornet

**Author's Note:**

> I'm getting back in the swing of fic-writing with a larger project at the moment, but I'm not quite ready to debut it on AO3 yet. For now, here's a quickie that I wrote up last year. If you're looking for action, I have to apologize, as I only intended to write the part building up to the shootout. I guess I could add onto this at a later point, but for now, you're just getting what I wrote for the prompt.

Leaves brushed against the Gunslinger’s ash-grey poncho as they trudged deeper into the forest’s dense greenery. Every now and then, they’d pass by an old stone pillar jutting out of the ground, faded words etched into the surface. They’d pay it no heed. They already knew that whatever was written there wouldn’t help them find what they were searching for, here in the lushest part of Hallow Valley. So they trudged on, one hand always close to the pistol holstered at their side.

They found a clearing before long. A bit where the sun shone down through the leaves, shedding its light on some decrepit monument overtaken by moss. There was a stranger there, rifle in hand, looking over the corpse of another stranger, but that didn’t rattle the Gunslinger any. They knew that what they were looking for wasn’t much farther off.

As the Gunslinger stepped into the clearing, the stranger drew her rifle, angling it at the Gunslinger. “You stay right where you are.” There was a coldness to her voice. “Don’t think I didn’t see you, stalkin’ along the trails I walked.”

The Gunslinger had no words for the stranger. Not that they would’ve bothered to speak up if they did.

“You can feel it too, can’t you?” The stranger asked, looking along the barrel of her rifle at the Gunslinger. “Somethin’ in the air, round here, round that ol’ town Dustmouth, round just about ev’ry inch of this valley. Something’s a-stirring, and I can tell that’s why you’re poking your nose around these parts.”

The Gunslinger’s hand gripped their pistol. Though their countenance remained steely as ever, they could tell that this dame wasn’t friendly.

A scowl crept up onto the stranger’s face. “If you’re looking for what I think you’re looking for, which I _know_ you are, I’ll hafta stop you right here.” The stranger’s finger gripped her rifle’s trigger, but before she could fire her first round, the Gunslinger ducked and whipped their weapon out. They weren’t expecting a shootout here, but some things just can’t be helped.


End file.
